In a network comprising a plurality of network devices, each of the different network devices can be provided with a unique identification code. A network device can be any device that can communicate within a network. With a unique identification code a network device can be addressed selectively, for example in order to send data to it, to request data from it, or generally speaking to communicate with it. The data may be of any kind and may be values measured by the network device data to control or setup the network device or data for a further communication between the network device and a further device connected to the network device.
Usually the network devices perform specific tasks that may not be the same for all network devices. If a network device is programmable, the task performed by that network device may be determined by a program module loaded into that network device. A program module is generally all data that determines the performance of a network device and a programmable network device is generally a network device whose performance can be modified by data.
In order to set up a programmable network device for its specific performance, it is necessary to load the corresponding program module into this network device. If the program module is intended only for individual ones of a plurality of network devices and not for all, it is necessary to be able to selectively access those network devices by means of the identification code. Network devices that are to be loaded with a program module that is intended for all network devices do not necessarily need to have an identification code since there is no need to access them separately. Each network device can also be loaded with more than one software module depending on the specific tasks of this network device and on the breadth or complexity of the program module.